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History · Cold Spring Township

Cold Spring Township’s post office opened in 1832, and 19% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1942 on.

1832first post office
0on the National Register
19%homes built before 1940
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Quick answers

How Cold Spring Township began

When was Cold Spring Township founded?

1832

The Cold Spring Township post office opened in 1832, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Cold Spring (1832), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

2020 census: 364194 years
Founding year: the first Cold Spring Township post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Cold Spring Township’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Cold Spring Township are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Deep rootsA post office since 1832: 194 years of Cold Spring Township.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Cold Spring Township’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Cold Spring Township’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
Timeline

Cold Spring Township, 1832 to 1942

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 19th century
  2. 1832Post officeThe Cold Spring post office opens
  3. 1881Post officeThe Cold Spring post office closes
  4. 20th century
  5. 1942On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
The story so far

Cold Spring Township, in brief

Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Cold Spring Township yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.

Cold Spring Township is located in Shelby County, Illinois. As of the 2010 census, its population was 442 and it contained 186 housing units.

Its first post office opened in 1832. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 442 to 364 (-18%).

Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.

By decade

No old photos in the archives yet

Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.

Be the first to add onePhotograph a print flat, in daylight, no flash.
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On the map

Cold Spring Township on the map, 1942 to 1998

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Cold Spring Township. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Cold Spring Township on the 1942 USGS mapCold Spring Township on the 1981 USGS mapCold Spring Township on the 1998 USGS map1942Shelbyville sheet · 1:62,500

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Cold Spring Township.

Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds

Another post office, Cold Spring, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Hamlets and corners on the map
WilliamsburgWilliamsburg Hill
Gone or out of use
Black Oak SchoolschoolCenter SchoolschoolCorley SchoolschoolLockwood SchoolschoolNew Harmony SchoolschoolStark SchoolschoolSummit SchoolschoolWhite Oak Schoolschool
8cemeteries and burying grounds inside Cold Spring Township
BatemanCorleyHorsmanMcCoyMoundMount OliveNew HopeRidge

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

Oconee TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townTower Hill TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townHerrick TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townLakewood TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Cold Spring Township’s history

What year was Cold Spring Township founded?

The Cold Spring Township post office opened in 1832, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
Start a conversation
Sources

Where this page comes from

Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021). How TownRatings grades history →

From U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.